Cleaver (The Sopranos)
Encyclopedia
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
film within a tv-series
Story within a story
A story within a story, also rendered story-within-a-story, is a literary device in which one narrative is presented during the action of another narrative. Mise en abyme is the French term for a similar literary device...
that serves as an important plot element toward the end of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. Although very little film material is actually shown in the series, its planning and development are discussed at large throughout multiple seasons of the show. The extent to which Sopranos character Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
mixes confidential and personal information about the Soprano mob family into the story elements of Cleaver is the focal point throughout its development. After the project eventually materializes, Cleaver can be categorized as a direct-to-DVD
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
mafia
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
-slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
— described alternately as "Saw
Saw (film)
Saw is a 2004 American independent horror film directed by James Wan. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Whannell and Tobin Bell...
meets the Godfather II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
", "the Ring
The Ring (2002 film)
The Ring is a 2002 American psychological horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson. It is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film Ring....
meets The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
", and "a story about a young man who goes to pieces and then manages to pull himself together again" —. Several characters are credited for their involvement in the project. The screenplay was written by J. T. Dolan based on a story by Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
, directed by Morgan Yam and produced by Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. and Moltisanti. The film starred Jonathan LaPaglia
Jonathan LaPaglia
Dr. Jonathan LaPaglia, M.B.B.S. is an Australian actor known for his roles as Frank B. Parker in the television series Seven Days, Kevin Debreno in The District and Det...
as Michael "the Cleaver" and Daniel Baldwin
Daniel Baldwin
Daniel Leroy Baldwin is an American actor, producer and director. He is the second oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, all of whom are actors. Daniel Baldwin is known for his role as Detective Beau Felton in the popular NBC TV series Homicide: Life on the Street...
as mob boss Salvatore ("Sally Boy"). Also starring as Sally-boy's key advisors are George Pogatsia as Frankie and Lenny Ligotti as Nicky. Moltisanti and Lupertazzi initially attempted to recruit Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
to fill the role of the mafia don in "Luxury Lounge (6x07)," but Kingsley turned down the part.
Plot
Cleaver—originally titled Pork Store Killer—stars protagonist Michael (a nod to actor Michael ImperioliMichael Imperioli
James Michael Imperioli , commonly known as Michael Imperioli, is an American actor and television writer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He also...
), nicknamed "the Butcher". When Christopher proposes the plot to writer J.T. Dolan, he says the film is about a "young wiseguy, assassin, gets betrayed by his people. They whack him, leave his body parts in dumpsters all around the city. Long story short, he is put back together, by science...or maybe it's supernatural. And he gets payback on everyone who fucked him over, including the cunt he was engaged to. She was getting porked by his boss the night the hero was killed."
Several episodes in the film are drawn from Moltisanti's own life experiences as a made man in the Soprano Crime Family, including a misinterpreted and overblown rumor concerning a potential affair between Family head Anthony Soprano
Tony Soprano
Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
and Christopher's then-fiance Adriana La Cerva
Adriana La Cerva
Adriana La Cerva played by Drea de Matteo, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the long-time girlfriend and, later, fiancée of Tony Soprano's protégé, Christopher Moltisanti.-Character history:...
. The film closes on a tight-shot of a crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
and a cornicello
Cornicello
Cornicello, Italian for "little horn", is an amulet worn to protect against the evil eye. In the Southern Italian Dialects, it is called cuornuciello or variants thereof.-Origins and styles:...
, juxtaposing "the sacred and the profane
Sacred-profane dichotomy
French sociologist Émile Durkheim considered the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane to be the central characteristic of religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden." In Durkheim's theory, the...
" (or, as Lupertazzi malaprops
Malapropism
A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".-Etymology:...
, "the sacred and the propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
.")
Development
Moltisanti met Dolan while both were in rehab recovering from heroin addiction. In the episode "In Camelot" (5x07), their friendship was complicated when Christopher introduced J. T. to the underground world of high-stakes poker games, inadvertently giving the writer a new outlet for his addictive personality. Dolan rapidly found himself $60,000 in debt, and soon wound up back in rehab at Moltisanti's prompting.The film itself originated in "Mayham
Mayham (The Sopranos episode)
"Mayham" is the sixty-eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the third of the show's sixth season. It was written by Matthew Weiner, directed by Jack Bender and originally aired on March 26, 2006.-Guest starring:...
" (6x03), when Moltisanti offered Dolan a way to clear his debts: write a screenplay for a digital slasher film based on a concept by Christopher. But the story had its genesis long before, when Christopher began his quest to write a screenplay in "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" (1x08). After struggling through 19 pages, Moltisanti became disillusioned and slipped into a depression, throwing away his work. He later had an affair with studio vice-president Amy Safir in "D-Girl
D-Girl (The Sopranos episode)
"D-Girl" is the twentieth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and was the seventh of the show's second season. It was written by Todd A. Kessler, directed by Allen Coulter and originally aired on Sunday, February 27, 2000.-Starring:...
" (2x07); through her he met Swingers
Swingers (1996 film)
Swingers is a 1996 comedy-drama film about the lives of single, unemployed actors living on the 'eastside' of Hollywood, California during the 1990s swing revival...
and Made
Made (2001 film)
Made is a 2001 film written and directed by Jon Favreau. It stars Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Peter Falk, and Sean Combs.-Plot:Bobby has ties to the local mafia boss, Max, but works as an honest mason for Max's construction projects. He fights in amateur boxing matches on the side, but his career is...
scribe Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
, with whom he discussed his film concept.
In "Kaisha" (6x12), he discussed the similarities between Sally Boy and Anthony Soprano with Julianna Skiff, describing both as men who think that everything belongs to them — a notion crystallized by Sally Boy in Cleavers finale when he tells Michael: "What you have belongs to me" because "what's mine is mine; what's yours is mine."
Episodes
- "The Legend of Tennessee MoltisantiThe Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti (The Sopranos episode)"The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" is the eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. It was written by David Chase and Frank Renzulli, directed by Tim Van Patten and originally aired on Sunday February 28, 1999.-Starring:...
" (1x08) - "D-GirlD-Girl (The Sopranos episode)"D-Girl" is the twentieth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and was the seventh of the show's second season. It was written by Todd A. Kessler, directed by Allen Coulter and originally aired on Sunday, February 27, 2000.-Starring:...
" (2x07) - "In CamelotIn Camelot (The Sopranos episode)"In Camelot" is the fifty-ninth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the seventh of the show's fifth season. It was written by Terence Winter, directed by Steve Buscemi and originally aired on April 19, 2004.-Guest starring roles:...
" (5x07) - "MayhamMayham (The Sopranos episode)"Mayham" is the sixty-eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the third of the show's sixth season. It was written by Matthew Weiner, directed by Jack Bender and originally aired on March 26, 2006.-Guest starring:...
" (6x03) - "Luxury LoungeLuxury Lounge (The Sopranos episode)"Luxury Lounge" is the seventy-second episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the seventh of the show's sixth season. It was written by Matthew Weiner, directed by Danny Leiner and originally aired on April 23, 2006.-Guest starring:...
" (6x07) - "KaishaKaisha (The Sopranos episode)"Kaisha" is the twelfth episode of the sixth season of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos and seventy-seventh episode overall. It served as the midseason finale to the first part of the sixth season, the broadcast of which was split into two parts...
" (6x12) - "Stage 5Stage 5 (The Sopranos episode)"Stage 5" is the seventy-ninth episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the second episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, the fourteenth episode of the season overall...
" (6x14)
Mockumentary
In conjunction with the premiere of "Stage 5Stage 5 (The Sopranos episode)
"Stage 5" is the seventy-ninth episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the second episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, the fourteenth episode of the season overall...
," HBO aired the seven-minute mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
Making Cleaver, detailing the film's production. Including in-character interviews with Moltisanti, Lupertazzi, Yam, Baldwin, LaPaglia, and special-effects make-up artist Steve Kelly, the behind-the-scenes look is broken up into four segments: "Concept," "Courting Kingsley," "Cast and Crew," and "A 'Family' Production."